After a rain out at East Bay raceway park the previous weekend, the #11 team was ready to get back to the racetrack. In first practice, the car lacked forward bite and Kirkpatrick wound up 11th out of 24 cars. After making some adjustments to fix this condition, the iceman put down 2 smooth laps that put him in 3rd place right behind teammate Mark Whitener. Starting 6th due to pill draw, Kirkpatrick got in line and made some laps. After a bad restart, Kirkpatrick lost some ground which mired him back in the field. This would eventually lead to him getting caught up in someone else's mess, damaging the car enough to not be able to finish the race.

    Austin Kirkpatrick and the #11 team visited their home track Bubba Raceway Park (the old Ocala Speedway) to partake in a 5,000 to win 50 lap season opener. In practice, the iceman looked impressive, but because of a bad pill draw, would have to start 8th in his heat. Because there were 38 cars on hand only the top 4 would transfer into the A-main. After getting his right side smashed in on two different occasions, Kirkpatrick was able to run the field back down and make a last corner pass to make the final transfer spot. In the feature, the iceman was able to bide his time and work his way from 18th up to 7th by the features end.

    After an impressive showing at Oglethorpe, the #11 team looked for another good run during the 2nd night of the NLMS double header. In Kirkpatrick's first ever laps around the tricky 1/3 miler, he was able to post the fastest time of the 24 cars that took time in the first practice. In the second practice, the car picked up a loose condition that would cause the iceman to drop slightly down the practice charts. In qualifying, Kirkpatrick threw down 2 identical lap times that were quick enough to put him 4th for the race. In the race, Kirkpatrick had some bad luck as he got involved in an incident on lap 2, then was also caught up in an incident on lap 4 that ended his night early.

    Austin Kirkpatrick and the rest of the #11 team invaded the fast 1/2 mile Oglethorpe speedway. The Iceman was quick in the first practice but had a carburetor issue. Handling-wise, the car was also good in the second practice but the same carburetor problem still surfaced. In qualifying, Kirkpatrick was hampered by an early draw, but still managed a top 10 effort by qualifying 8th. Starting 3rd in the heat, Kirkpatrick fell back about a half straight to the top 2, but ran them back down by the end of the heat, ensuring him a 8th place starting position for the A-main. In the feature, the iceman methodically moved his way through the field and ended up finishing 4th one spot behind teammate Mark Whitener.